The sad demise of the english language

[historian]

Things have become so bad that people don't even realize what they are saying. Good example today (i had to staple my lips shut before making a comment). Anyway i was standing in line at the library and there were two librarians attending a long line. One of them, with a large pile of books in front of her, called out "Please go to other line I WILL BE DISCHARGING FOR SOME TIME". I assume she meant registering returned books because if not things are sad indeed.

[LoveIsNow]

1. From Merriam-Webster's

discharge...
6:to cancel the record of the loan of (a library book) upon return.

[tritsofme]

2. LOL, some egg on the face of the OP here.

[rcrush]

14. hahahaha win

[Richard Steele]

3. Irregardless of all that....

:rofl:

Seriously though, I know what you mean.

"English" is going downhill fast, and I really don't know
how it's all gonna end up. BADLY, I reckon.

[marybourg]

8. Me and him went to the store. nt.

[Richard Steele]

9. MerryBorg says: Resistance is futile, YAAAAAY!

I'm in a bit of a silly mood this evening. How are YOU doin'? :hi:

[Sal Minella]

15. Me and him, we seen what you done.

That was my grandfather's favorite.

[Control-Z]

21. I could care less.

:rofl:

[Regret My New Name]

25. That's one that bothers me for some reason...

SAY IT RIGHT, OR ELSE!

[Control-Z]

31. It makes no sense, otherwise. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. ...

Things have become so bad that people don't even realize what they are saying. Good example today (I had to staple my lips shut before making a comment): Anyway I was standing in line at the library and there were two librarians attending a long line. One of them, with a large pile of books in front of her, called out, "Please go to other line, I WILL BE DISCHARGING FOR SOME TIME." I assume she meant registering returned books because if not things are sad indeed.

[Iris]

6. also, usually the people who check out and discharge books aren't librarians

[raccoon]

24. True. A lot of the public think everybody who works in a library is a librarian. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. ...

Title: The sad demise of the English language

(or "The Sad Demise of the English Language"

[Robb]

27. Or, if writing a headline

The sad demise of the English language

...Justify every drop of ink, you know. :D

On edit: actually my old boss would kill me for that headline. No active verb. Redo:

Poster laments demise of English language

:rofl:

[fishwax]

5. nothing wrong with that

but that reminds me that I have some library books to renew ...

[BlooInBloo]

7. Irony alert.

[Berry Cool]

10. At least it wasn't a cafe, and she didn't say she'd be teabagging for some time.

Actually, one of my supervisors mentioned a while ago that we should make sure all of our marketing materials talk about "serving" our customers--not "servicing" them.

You'd be surprised how widespread the phrase "servicing our customers" has become. And, well, you could say there's nothing wrong with it. But it IS subject to misinterpretation, too.

[lpbk2713]

11. Rather gauche of her to be discussing her medical condition in public like that.

:eyes:

[Canuckistanian]

12. The English language is dead, Long Live the English language!

People have been lamenting the fate of English since time immemorial.

Some probably went to Shakespeare plays and said, "Zounds! This isn't how the monks taught ME to speak".

[rcrush]

13. Everyone should discharge at least once a day.

Or you'll get all backed up.

[Speck Tater]

16. RE: Grammar cop posts in general: Since we don't all speak like Chaucer,

(and neither did Shakespeare, for that matter) it should be obvious that

1. Language is ALWAYS in a state of change
2. Somebody is ALWAYS complaining about the most recent changes ("What's wrong with these ignorant people these days?")

The fact is, 1000 years from now the English language will be so different from what it is today that if you stepped into a time machine and went forward 1000 years you would be utterly unable to understand spoken English, just the same as if you stepped into a time machine and went BACK 1000 years.

The way we speak English today is valid ONLY for today, not for tomorrow and not for yesterday.

People should really learn to get comfortable with the intrinsic impermanence of the "rules" of grammar, syntax, morphology, and phonetics of English. Everything about the language is in a constant state of flux. If it were not so, then English would be a dead language.

A lot of people, for example, complain about "alot". After all, "it's not a word. It's TWO words: A LOT". For those people, may I remind you that in the 1800's "today" was not a word, it was two words, hyphenated: "to-day". Just as "alright" used to be "all right" (and still is according to some reactionary dictionaries) So if you don't like "alot", just get over it. It's the wave of the future. It might be yesterday's "bad spelling", but it's tomorrow's (oh excuse me, "to-morrow's") normal, accepted usage.

Or, as Chaucer said: This frere bosteth that he knoweth helle, and God it woot, that it is litel wonder; Freres and feendes been but lyte asonder. For, pardee, ye han ofte tyme herd telle how that a frere ravyshed was to helle in spirit ones by a visioun.

And he would say to your face that if you don't speak and write and spell just like that, just like he did, then you must one of those ignorant fools who can't be bothered to learn correct English.

[litlady]

17. I remember my linguistics teacher in graduate school disagreeing with for saying what you just did..

good points, though as an English teacher I still have to follow the standards of (current academic) written English when grading.

[CTyankee]

23. I'm a volunteer ESOL tutor and have learned that the construction "He go" instead of "He goes"

is now so common that ESOL experts expect it to become the norm pretty soon.

My Chinese student recently asked me what "shall" meant. I explained it to her, saying that now the distinction between "shall" and "will" is not made often by American English speakers and told her to think of it as "will." Also, methinks "shall" is not even used outside of saying "Shall we go?" I don't think she followed my explanation but I needed to make a stab at having her understand the word...

It was also difficult to get her to understand the concept of a "stress-timed" language, which English is, instead of a "syllable-timed" language like so many other languages are. I told her that native English speakers stress certain words, content words, and destress function words, using the song "Little Boxes" to illustrate what I meant. She loved the song and started to sing along but she really didn't have a clue...

[Odin2005]

32. +1

[JCMach1]

18. Same same as always with the grammar police...

I am saying that as an English Prof.


Language (especially English) has always been a work-in-progress.

[ColbertWatcher]

19. Excuse me, they're not just "police" ...

[juno jones]

22. The announcement of the demise of the english language seems premature. n/t

[NashVegas]

26. Good Thing You're a Historian, Huh?

And how about that spell-check while we're at it?

[Zywiec]

28. +1 LOL n/t

[NeedleCast]

29. Librarian used term correctly

Luckily you didn't make a comment, because you would have been wrong.

[xocet]

30. So....

Question: How much structure can be stripped away from a sentence in a language before the sentence conveys no clear meaning?

Random Aside: Note that multiple negatives used to be used in English (Middle English) for emphasis - there was no rule against double negation in a sentence.

Reference: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Middle-English-J-Burrow/dp/0631193537